


Oblivious

by shadowfaerieammy



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Has a Crush on Marinette, F/M, Marinette Has a Crush on Chat, Oblivious Chat Noir, Role Reversal, Universe Alteration, Unrequited Crush, oblivious marinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2018-05-26 13:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6240562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowfaerieammy/pseuds/shadowfaerieammy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adrien is head over heels for his classmate. However, she never looks his way. She is too blinded by her crush on Chat Noir to notice the feelings of her classmate. And Chat is too distracted by his crush on Marinette to notice the blushes and fleeting glances of Ladybug.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by anxiouspixie on tumblr  
> Prompt: hi! I was wondering if you could write something where Adrien has a crush on Marinette but she doesn't notice bc she has a crush on chat noir. Like the roles are reversed from the way the show is! (Example: Chat Noir never notices Ladybug's affection bc he's too busy thinking about Marienette)

Adrien wishes he weren’t seated in the front row. Nathanael is lucky; his seat in the back gives him a perfect view of Marinette all day everyday. Of course Adrien isn’t a stalker or anything, he just thinks Marinette is really cool. And talented. And beautiful…

“Mr. Agreste!” Barks the teacher. “If you have time to daydream then you must already know the answer to the question on the board.” She holds a black dry erase marker out to Adrien.

A sigh escapes his lips. He answers the question with ease and savors the five seconds it takes to return to his seat because he can finally see his princess. She isn’t even looking up; she and Alya are passing notes. Of course she wouldn’t be looking at him.

Instead of sighing again Adrien forces a smile. An Agreste never shows their emotions.

As Chat Noir, however, he can do anything he wants.

\----------

“Hi Chat Noir,” Ladybug squeaks when Chat Noir arrives on the scene of the akuma attack.

“Good evening Ladybug,” Chat replies with a bow.

Marinette finds Chat Noir utterly charming. She isn’t completely sure why, because his puns are awful, but something about his smile and his confidence make her melt.

The akuma leaves very little time for daydreaming. It launches a car at Ladybug (she sighs in annoyance; why do they always do that to her?) and she doesn’t have the time to dodge it. Chat extends his baton to push her out of the way of the oncoming vehicle and into safety.

“Are you okay, My Lady?” Chat yells over the obliterated terrain.

Oh yeah, that’s why she likes him. He always does his best to keep her safe.

“I’m okay Chat!” Ladybug gets up and grabs her yoyo. “Lucky Charm!” She shouts, tossing it into the air. Down comes a very large pair of scissors.

Ladybug doesn’t understand the lucky charm until she realizes where the villains akuma is. The villain is a mechanic, made quite obvious over his manipulation of vehicles and his armor made of car parts. The akuma must be in his toolbelt, she deduces. He pulls weapons out of the pockets, projectiles to throw, so which pocket holds the akuma?

A thump sounds beside Ladybug. “Where’s the akuma?”

“I think it’s in his toolbelt, but I don’t know which pocket.”

Chat examines the villain then the lucky charm. His face brightens with an idea. Marinette nearly melts but Tikki tells her to focus. “Maybe the akuma is the tool belt. It’s not easy to destroy a massive leather toolbelt with your bare hands”

In a flash he’s gone, running towards the akuma. Marinette chases after him, something she is unfortunately accustomed to.

Chat retrieves his baton from the rubble and uses it to vault onto the villain. The Mechanic shakes and writhes, desperately trying to get rid of Chat. Her partner extends his baton into the waist of the belt and tilts it as far back as he possibly can.

Ladybug catches on. She yoyo’s herself to them and uses the scissors on the belt while it is still outstretched. The scissors dig into the belt enough to cause a small tear but not enough to release the akuma before Marinette is knocked off.

Ladybug stares up in horror as the scissors begin to disintegrate. The force of The Mechanic is knocking the center bolt loose, which in turn loosens the scissors. They won’t last much longer.

Chat, still on the villain, swings down onto the belt. He throws the scissors back to Ladybug. “Cataclysm!” He slides his claws down the belt, started at the tear and dragging it down till the akuma flies out.

“No more evil-doing for you, little akuma,” Ladybug says as she captures and purifies the akuma. As she releases it, she says the same line as always. “Bye bye, little butterfly.”  
She throws the remnants of the scissors into the air, shouting “Miraculous Ladybug!”

The disaster scene surrounding the heroes flashes with light, returning to it’s prior state.

“You did a really good job, Chat,” Marinette says when he partner approaches. “Not that you don’t always do a good job, because you do. You’re great!”

The oblivious kitty chuckles. “Thanks Ladybug. I handled that pretty purrrfectly, didn’t I?”

Marinette rolls her eyes at his terrible pun but they fist bump anyway. Chat doesn’t seem to notice how shaky his partner’s hand is.

\----------

School is, unfortunately, still in session when the battle ends. Both students rush back to school, neither noticing that they arrive at the same time.

Their teacher most definitely noticed.

“Now that you two are back from your secret rendezvous, I’d like to continue my lecture.”

Adrien turns beet red, incapable of sputtering out an answer through his embarrassment. The thumbs-up he receives from Nino only aggravates his condition.

Marinette, oblivious to her classmate’s discomfort or feelings, is able to form comprehensible sentences. “It’s a coincidence, professor! I ran into Adrien outside the door.”

Their professor raises an eyebrow in doubt but does not pursue the subject.

No amount of effort can keep Adrien focused on the lesson. He tries, he really does, but the hushed voices behind him are far too distracting.

“Spill girl,” whispers Alya to her best friend.

“Spill what?” Marinette asks in a hush. God, how Adrien wishes she would speak to him like that. 

“You and Adrien. I refuse to believe that you two just happened to come in at the same time.”

Marinette sighs, her breath tickling faintly against Adrien’s hair. He shudders. “I really did run into him outside. There’s nothing to tell you.”

“Then why did he turn so red?”

Adrien can see Marinette shrugging out of the corner of his eye when he turns to stretch.

“He’s shy.”

Alya accepts the answer, for now. She can’t deny that Adrien is shy, but according to Nino there is a lot more going on than Adrien lets on. Deciding to take pity on the boy, Alya throws a note to Nino asking if the four of them can hang out after school. Nino sends her a very indiscreet thumbs-up that gets the boy in trouble. Sometimes Alya can’t believe how stupid and silly her friends can be.

“Rollerblading,” Alya says to her three friends before their last class. “Let’s all go rollerblading.”

Marinette and Nino agree easily but Adrien has a dilemma; he does not have permission to go out this evening.

“Sure, I’ll go,” he says, even though he knows the answer from Nathalie might be no. He texts Nathalie telling her that he is going out instead of asking for permission. An afternoon with Marinette is definitely worth the wrath of his father.


	2. Chapter Two

Adrien didn’t know what he expected. Maybe a disgruntled text from Nathalie or a scolding from his father in the evening, but definitely not what he was greeted with after the last bell.

Waiting in front of the school was his limo, Nathalie and the Gorilla standing outside. Adrien was in big trouble.

“There is a photoshoot this afternoon that you cannot miss,” Nathalie explained as the Gorilla opened the car door. “Your plans can wait for another day.”

Adrien’s crinkled eyes and lips drawn into a taut line showed clear disappointment. Nathalie didn’t like holding him back, but she had to do her job. The best she could do was try to compromise.

“You can bring your friends to the set if you wish. It’s a private shooting at a cafe so we may need extras anyway.”

Marinette reacted first with a quick squeal and a squeaky “yes, please!”

Adrien choked down a grin and looked to his other companions. “Do you wanna come?”

“Sur-” Nino cut off with a hiss and glared over at Alya, whose nails dug into his arm. Her innocent smile directly opposed the devilish mischief dancing in her eyes. “I mean, uh, no thanks, dude. Not really my scene.”

“Same here. We’ll catch you later.” With that, Alya and Nino left, the pair trying to discreetly send thumbs up to their flustered blonde friend.

Adrien, excited by the sudden change in events, was more thankful for this opportunity then disappointed about the change.

“Have you ever been to a photoshoot before?” Adrien asked in the car, trying to make conversation without coming across as the awkward fool he was.

Marinette’s eyes sparkled. “No, it’s like a dream come true! Especially since it’s an Agreste photoshoot. Your dad is my fashion idol, the best in the business. I can’t believe it!” The car stopped at a red light, the jolt bringing Marinette back to reality. She blushed, face burning nearly as crimson as her earrings, but smiled earnestly. “Thank you for bringing me along, Adrien. It makes me really happy.”

Adrien made a mental note to take her to photo shoots as often as he could get away with.

Once they arrive at the cafe, Adrien is whisked away to the impromptu hair and makeup station inside. While Adrien is poked and prodded into perfection, the same happens to Marinette, much to her surprise. “Even the extras must look beautiful,” a woman explains as she shoves the stunned bluenette behind a curtain with an arm full of clothes. Each article fits perfectly, even the shoes, and she wonders how they put together such an outfit for her on such short notice.

Marinette is finished before Adrien so Nathalie instructs her to order whatever she wants from the counter and then sit at one of the tables. She orders the smallest drink she can, suddenly self-conscious. Models surround her in flowing skirts and smart suits, each as beautiful as the last. There is no comparison between the models and Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a simple baker’s daughter.

The self-deprecating thoughts are blown away when the chair across from her scrapes against the floor. She looks up from her drink, face flushed from the warm steam lapping at her cheeks. Across from her sits Adrien who, while also looking model-perfect, is a red-faced fool despite the layers of foundation coating his skin.

“You’re beautiful,” he says in the kindest, most delicate voice she has ever heard. Despite his warm cheeks, he smiles straight at her, and she smiles back with pink-glossed lips.

“Thanks, Adrien.”

In Adrien’s eyes, she truly is a lovely sight. The top of her dress is chinese-style, white with pink flowers, very similar to the pattern of her favorite shirt. A perfect white bow serves as a belt to separate the flared white skirt. The mixed French and Chinese styles of the dress perfectly suit Marinette and bring out the subtle nuances of her mixed traits. Paired with blush pink kitten heels and soft makeup Marinette could easily be mistaken for one of the models. Adrien wonders how they could have found such a perfect outfit on such short notice. The only discordant element of her outfit is the glossy red earrings hidden behind her loose hair.

Curious fingers reach out, brush her hair behind her ear. Thinking about it, he realizes that he’s never seen her without those earrings.

Marinette shies away, flinching almost imperceptibly. Anyone less infatuated with her wouldn’t have noticed.

“They’re a family heirloom,” she lies easily, a feigned smile drawing Adrien’s attention to pink lips. “I never take them off.” Jokingly, she adds, “I had to argue with three people to keep them in.”

Adrien laughs, remembering the number of times he has done the same for his ring. Unconsciously, his fingers caress the band of silver.

“Adrien!” Nathalie calls, voice authoritative. “We’re ready to start. Get in place.”

The model sighs. Marinette notices, concern floating in her fanfiction blue eyes. He smiles, not the fake modelling smile he will don momentarily for the camera, but a real smile, the kind that only love can draw out. He barely notices the faint sound of a camera shutter click amidst the noise.

“I wish we could talk more,” he says earnestly, standing from his seat. As he stands, he notices her empty cup. “Would you like another drink, Marinette?”

The white hot chocolate is so tempting but there are so many models around. Each one holds some form of coffee or a cup of tea; none of them have something as caloric as hot chocolate.

Sensing her wariness, Adrien puts a hand on her shoulder. He knows how intimidating being around models could be. “How about I pick something for you?”

Marinette nods and thanks him as he takes her empty cup to the counter. At this point, camera shutters crash and lights flash furiously; the shoot has begun. Pictures are taken of Adrien ordering drinks and leaning against the counter waiting for them. More pictures when the drinks are presented to him.

Marinette’s face flushes when he walks across the cafe to her table, cameras clicking the entire way, even as he sets her drink in front of her with a warm smile. A real smile. At this point the photographer praises him audibly and tells him to keep it up. Adrien blushes.

To cool her cheeks, Marinette examines her drink. Looking down reveals that the drink is not only white hot chocolate but it is also a tower of whipped cream topped with a raspberry.

All of a sudden she is no longer in a photo shoot, instead simply in a cafe with her friend.

“This is exactly what I wanted,” she tells Adrien, who is still standing beside the table. He beams and pictures are taken faster than before. The photographer keeps praising Adrien but all he hears is Marinette. “How’d you know?”

Adrien blushes and the photographer squeals in glee. Deciding to take a chance, Adrien says, “It’s the second sweetest thing here.”

Marinette cocks her head, hair falling in her face. “What’s the first?”

In a burst of courage, Adrien tucks her hair behind her ear. “You.”

Instead of blushing, which is the intended effect, Marinette bursts out laughing. “Oh my goodness, that was awful!”

Adrien gapes in horror till he notices the pink tint to her cheeks. Maybe his line did have the intended effect. Laughter bubbles up in his throat then he is laughing too. He sits across from her, still laughing, no longer aware of his surroundings. Nothing exists except for him and Marinette.

The photographer practically cries at the perfection of the shot.

Simmered down to stifled giggles, Marinette plucks the raspberry from her drink and pops it into her mouth. Her companion reaches over and, with a slender finger, steals a scoop of whip cream and pops it into his mouth. Mouth full of raspberry, Marinette squeaks in offense.

“You stole my whip cream!”

No longer weighed down by nerves, Adrien sends her a cocky grin. “And I’d do it again.”

Adrien does not expect any of the following events. First, Marinette mirrors his expression with a cocky grin of her own, which startles him because it can’t mean anything good if sweet Marinette makes a face like that. Next, she dips a finger into her whip cream as Adrien had moments before, which merely causes Adrien confusion. Some of the crew members are laughing so Adrien realises that he is missing something important. Then, she attacks.

“If you want my whip cream so much then here, you can have it!”

Her finger approaches his nose. He feels the cool cream. Her finger pulls away with only a small amount of residual cream. She pops her finger into her mouth, as he had done before.

I must be dreaming, Adrien tells himself.

The extras at the nearby tables are laughing. The crew members are laughing. Marinette is laughing.

Some switch inside of Adrien flips. His nerves return full force and he slinks lower into his seat, shrinking into himself. His crush just put whip cream on his nose in the middle of a photoshoot. He had forgotten about the photo shoot, completely immersed in Marinette. He had been so unprofessional. He’s so embarrassed.

“Adrien?”

He shrinks as far into himself as he can, professionalism be damned.

“Adrien?” 

He hears the scrape of her chair as she stands.

“Adrien, come back up.”

Her voice is beside him, whisper soft. He can’t deny her. He shimmies up into a normal sitting position, face crimson.

Using a napkin she dabs at his nose. “You really do look good in anything.”

Adrien laughs despite himself and looks up at her. She smiles down, the lights creating a halo above her head. His face cools and he smiles back.

“Okay, we’re done,” shouts the photographer in glee, clapping his hands. “Time to pack up!”

The teenagers’ heads pop up, startled. The shoot was over so soon? Looking at the clock on the wall, Adrien realizes it’s been barely over an hour.

“We’re really done already?” Adrien asks the photographer when he approaches. “We didn’t even get to the scripted stuff.”

The photographer smiles softly down at Adrien. It is the most tender look he has ever gotten from the man. “The two of you,” he gestured to Adrien and Marinette, “were much better than anything we could have scripted. You were genuine, something one can only hope for in a photo shoot.”

To Adrien specifically, he says, “this is the most of you I have ever seen.”

Adrien doesn’t have to ask to know exactly what he means.

To Marinette, he says, “if this is the effect you have on Adrien, then you are welcome on all our shoots. These are the best pictures I’ve ever taken of him.” He holds out his hand for her to shake, and she does, smile wide. She basically just got a VIP pass to half of his photo shoots, since this photographer is one of his father’s favorites. Adrien has never seen her look happier.

“Thank you, sir!”

After that, the teens are ushered to separate areas to change back into their regular clothes and remove their makeup. Adrien is ready first and is surprised when Marinette reemerges carrying a garment bag.

“They said I could keep the outfit as a thank-you for my work today,” she explained. “I’m actually really happy; my maman will love to see me in this.”

“That’s nice. Your mom’s nice.” Adrien mentally facepalms; he’s so socially impaired it’s pathetic.

“Thank you for bringing me, Adrien!” Slender arms wrap around Adrien and he nearly dies of happiness.

Relaxing into her touch, Adrien returns the hug. “It’s my pleasure. My job has never been this fun before or this easy.”

Marinette pulls away, much to Adrien’s dismay, though he guesses he couldn’t hold her forever no matter how badly he wanted to. “Wow, it’s still pretty early.”

Adrien looks down at the phone in her hand and is surprised; his shoots are never this short. It was expected to take at least another two hours so his schedule for the rest of the evening is blissfully empty. “Do you want to do something else? Since this ended early I have the whole afternoon free.” Once the words leave his mouth he blushes. He’s practically asking her out on a date.

“Sure!” She agrees easily, unaware of his intentions. “What do you have in mind?”

Dinner and a movie sounds too much like a date so Adrien blurts out the only other thing he can think of. “Rollerblading!”

Marinette’s face glows and Adrien feels as though he’s dug his own grave. “You’re on.”


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rollerblading!

Adrien has never rollerskated before and to his companions it’s painfully obvious. He stays on his feet for seconds at a time before landing painfully on his buttocks. Luckily Marinette is always there to catch him, so fast on wheels that she makes a full lap between Adrien’s falls.

“Do you need help?” Marinette asks, leaning towards him, hand outstretched.

Adrien takes her hand and is surprised by how easily she hoists him up. “Thanks,” he says with a blush. “I’ll get it eventually.”

She smiles before rolling away. Adrien watches as she goes and damn is she fast. She must do this all the time.

“She’s been roller skating since she was a kid,” Nino chips in as he rolls up behind Adrien. “She’s gotten a lot faster recently though; she can beat both Kim and Alix easily.”

As Mariette zooms past Adrien for the sixth time, he realizes that in her actions there is a silent challenge he can’t ignore. It is invisible, unintentional, but whispering softly to him. He focuses on balance, speed, and reflexes, centering himself. Rollerskating is still difficult but he makes progress and soon he can do laps. He gains on Nino and surpasses him in skill, learning quickly when faced with a challenge.

Marinette is surprised when she passes a speedy Adrien. He’s faster than both Nino and Alya despite having many years less experience. She smiles, glad he came out of his shell. The sheltered, shy boy needed more fun in his life.  
But he’s learning ridiculously fast. Now that he understands how to roller skate there is nothing stopping him from passing Marinette on his next lap. Then the next.

Marinette almost can’t believe it, but it’s happening and there is only one thing she can do: compete. Alix and Kim’s constant challenges suddenly make sense to her as Adrien passes her on the glossed wooden floor.

Adrien often forgets how competitive Marinette can be. He competed with her while practicing for the gaming tournament a few weeks back, but that was competing on the same team as her. He’s never competed against her before.

Five minutes later their lap counts are equal. Marinette and Adrien skate side by side, focus on the space ahead of them. There is no way to win; in their unspoken challenge they did not establish a finish line. They simply continue to skate until for some reason they stop. The reason ends up being Alya.

“Final lap!” Alya yells from the opposite side of the rink, waving her arms. “We’re starving over here! Time for pizza!”

The interruption doesn’t startle Adrien enough for him to lose his footing but Marinette loses focus. She veers off course and shrieks, losing her footing. She falls. Adrien reflexively wraps his arm around her waist to catch her.

“Are you okay?”

Marinette looks up at Adrien, and with the lights casting shadows over his face he reminds her of a certain masked kitty. She shakes her head to rid herself of the thought, but still blushes when Adrien helps her regain her footing.

“Are you okay?”

“I-I’m f-f-fine,” she stutters. Marinette internally curses at herself to regain her composure. This is Adrien, her friend, not Chat Noir. There’s no reason to be nervous around him. But she burns at his touch anyway.

“Come on lovebirds, time for pizza!”

Nino dies laughing at Alya’s outburst. Both Marinette and Adrien blush furiously, but only Marinette is brash enough to make a comeback.

Marinette grabs Adrien’s hand and intertwines their fingers. “I think us lovebirds want to hit the arcade instead,” she turns to Adrien with a sassy smile he can’t refuse, “right mon couer?”

The blonde can only nod in response.

Nino shrugs. “Suit yourself.” He turns to Alya with a devious smile. “Looks like it’s just us.”

“Such a shame,” Alya jokingly agrees.

Inside they’re both ecstatic that their friends are getting closer. If only Marinette would get a clue.

After Alya and Nino walked away, Marinette dropped Adrien’s hand, cheeks tinted pink. “I’ sorry about that, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Alya can just be so frustrating sometimes that I can’t let her get away with it.”

Adrien nods again, completely lost. I am so dangerously far gone, he thinks to himself.

Marinette notices his strange behavior and starts to curl into herself. “I’m sorry, I made you uncomfortable, didn’t I?”

This time shaking his head no, Adrien finds the strength to speak. “No, of course not. I was just startled, is all. You can hold my hand anytime.” It isn’t till after he finishes speaking that he realizes what he said, but he doesn’t take it back. Now that the words are out there, he kind of wants to know how Marinette will react.

Her reaction does not disappoint. Her cheeks flare up, the same vivid shade as her earrings, and she is staring wide-eyed. They look at each other in fleeting glances but whenever their eyes meet they both turn away.

“So, arcade?” Marinette asks after thirty awkward uncomfortable seconds.

“Yes, of course, arcade. Lead the way.”

The tension easily melts away when they begin with the arcade games. They set eyes on the air hockey table and the game is on.

Adrien wins all three rounds.

Marinette, as competitive as she is, does not leave it at that. She challenges him at skee ball and wins two of the three games. He wins the one round of the racing game. For the basketball game they each win one round and get a tie on the third. Currently Adrien is in the lead and Marinette doesn’t like that at all.

“Aw Mari don’t be a sore loser,” Adrien chides, all shyness drowned out by the competitiveness only Marinette and Ladybug can bring out.

“I’m not a sore loser, those games are rigged,” she grumbles, arms crossed over her chest as she walks past each game glaring. “I bet if we were playing Ultimate Mecha Strike III I’d beat you in every round.”

“Is that a challenge?”

Marinette smiles, not that the boy walking behind her can see it. She likes this side of Adrien, the side that is a normal teenager. He shouldn’t have to be constantly worrying about school and piano lessons and Chinese and fencing and modeling and all of his other duties; he’s just a kid. This Adrien, the confident sassy Adrien that challenges her and brings out her competitive side, and the kind Adrien who forgot he was in a photoshoot because he was trying to make me comfortable, these are the real Adrien. He needs more of this.

“Sure, Adrien,” she says in a kind, quiet voice. He doesn’t understand the abrupt shift from competitive to compassionate but he thinks it better not to ask. “Is there anything else you want to do before we go?”

Adrien’s gaze sweeps over the arcade, skimming Deal Or No Deal booths and roller coaster cubes before landing on the ultimate challenge: crane games. The back wall of the arcade is lined with them but there is only prize that he’s interested in.

“Why do you want that?” Marinette asks after Adrien’s first botched attempt. He doesn’t answer. After four more failures Marinette sighs and tells him to step aside. She catches it on her first try. He looks at her as if she is a god and has presented him the gift of life. “Stop being melodramatic,” she tells him when he says as much, “and take the darn bracelets.”

Two bracelets are clasped together, a complementing set. One is red with small polka dots and a little ladybug charm in the center and the other is green with black bursts and a black cat charm.

Adrien separates the bracelets and holds out his wrist “Can you put this on me?” he asks, holding out the ladybug bracelet with his free hand. Marinette obliges. When she is done Adrien asks for her hand.

“Why?” she asks skeptically.

“Because no Ladybug is complete without their Chat Noir,” he says

She obliges, holding her wrist out. “I can’t disagree with that.”

While fastening the dark green and black bracelet around her wrist he notices how incredibly pale she is, like porcelain, but he doubts she’s as fragile.

When he’s done fastening the bracelet onto her wrist she pulls away and puts a few paces between them. “We’d better go,” she says, facing away from him. “If we’re lucky maybe Alya and Nino saved us some pizza.

Adrien looks down at his bracelet, then looks at the one on Marinette. Today is definitely his lucky day.

Marinette looks down at her bracelet, then looks at the one on Adrien, her face flushing. According to the rapid beating in her chest, today is definitely not her lucky day.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So call me maybe~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short. I haven't had much inspiration for this story lately so I've barely worked on it in favor of doing other projects (which I will hopefully finish and post soon). But I realized it's been forever since I last posted so I thought a short chapter would be better than nothing, so I hope you enjoy! My school semester is busy so I'll post much more frequently when summer break comes.

Marinette doesn’t know what’s wrong with her. Every time she’s near Adrien her heart beats nearly out of her chest. It’s not a crush -it can’t be a crush because she loves Chat Noir- so she doesn’t know what this is. “It’s a crush,” Alya tells her, but of course that’s wrong for the previously stated reason.

“Maybe I’m allergic to his cologne,” she theorizes. She finds out she’s wrong when she compliments Nino on his cologne and he says Adrien gave him an extra bottle; Adrien’s dad makes him wear it because they partnered with the brand for the advertisement so he has like eight bottles.

“Or maybe you like him.”

Marinette groans and flops face-first into her pillows. She and Alya are “studying” for an exam, which actually means eating snacks swiped from the bakery while Alya pesters Marinette about her nonexistent love life.

“I already-”

“Like someone else. I know, you’ve told me a hundred times. But you never tell me who he is.”

“That’s because you don’t know him so it doesn’t matter.”

Alya scoffs. “I doubt there’s anyone in Paris that I don’t know. And all you do is go to school, stay home, and design! Where would you even meet a guy?”

“I told you, we-”

“Met at the park, I know. And I don’t believe you. We’ve had this conversation a billion times and you always say the same things but never talk about any developments. If you like this mystery guy then tell him!”

“I can’t!”

Alya gets up from Marinette’s desk chair and flops down on the mattress beside her friend. “Girl you’re never gonna get anywhere unless you do something about it. Just text him or something.”

Marinette pauses for a moment, trying to think of an alternative way to explain that she does not know Chat Noir’s phone number and therefore cannot text him. “He, uh, doesn’t have a phone.”

Alya flips over on top of Marinette. Marinette squeals and tries to wiggle her way out but there is no escape from Alya’s wrath. “That has to be a lie; practically everyone over the age of four has a phone!”

The bluenette gives up her struggle and accepts her fate. “If he does then I don’t have the number.”  
Alya rolled away to let Marinette breathe. “You haven’t even asked for his number, have you?”

Marinette shakes her head. Alya doesn’t see it but she feels the bed lightly shake. “I can’t just ask that.”

“Why not?”

She picks her words delicately, trying to stay honest. “I don’t want to overstep my bounds.”

The bed jolts with the force of Alya’s laughter. “Girl, it sounds like you aren’t even close enough to have bounds to cross. Just ask for his number! What harm could it do?”

A lot, Marinette thinks to herself as Alya carries on.

\---------------------

A few days later, Nathanael gets in trouble for drawing in class. He trips on his way down the stairs and drops his sketchbook. Unfortunately. Chloe picks it up. The Evillustrator is born.

Chat doesn’t understand why Ladybug is so angry at Chloe. He knows that she isn’t very nice and tends to cross the line but Ladybug is kind and selfless and timid. She’s never acted this fiery towards him.

Ladybug goes home, drops through the roof hatch and throws her purse on the couch. She apologizes to Tikki. The small god hides and Marinette is startled by a sound at her window.

“Hi Marinette.” Standing before her is the same villain she fought earlier today in the library. They chat and he doesn’t seem dangerous, but he wants her to be at his birthday party. She can’t go; she has to be Ladybug and stop him. But this is a great chance to get close and grab his akuma without suspicion. She agrees to go, but she needs back-up. A certain alley cat comes to mind and she grins.

Chloe is starting to get on his nerves when Chat receives a call from his partner. He steps outside, thankful for the reprieve, and answers the call on his baton. She tells him about the plan for tonight, that Marinette needs help but Ladybug is busy, and when she sends a photo of Marinette Chat dares to save it. He jumps on the chance to meet with his princess.

Marinette is in a bit of a pinch when he arrives at her door so he waits until the ruffled redhead leaves to make his big entrance.

To his surprise, when he jumps in and flexes while explaining that she is his partner for the night, her cheeks flush and she can’t form a response through her stutter. This confuses Chat because he’s never seen strong, confident Marinette flustered like this before. It is adorable and endearing and he wishes he could hold her but right now her safety is priority.

Chat knows he should be focusing on how to defeat the akuma but right now, while he watches their date, he’s overridden with jealousy. He wants to be the one on a date with Marinette.

He missteps and his cover is blown. Marinette tries to take the akumatized pen from the artist’s hand but is thwarted. Their attempts land them in a glass box that Marinette has to get them out of because Chat is too distracted by being with his crush in an enclosed space.

Marinette is so calculating and careful with her actions until Chat turns to leave and catch the akuma.

“Can I have your number?” she blurts awkwardly loud, her voice cracking.

When Chat’s eyes widen and mouth gapes Marinette knows she crossed the line but the words are out now; she can’t take them back. All she can do is wait anxiously for a reply.

Chat can’t believe his ears (either pair). Why would Marinette want Chat Noir’s phone number? He waited for some sort of explanation to follow but none came.

“Okay.” He’ll probably hate himself later for this but for now he’s glad his crush is even noticing him. She may not notice him as Adrien but this is better than nothing.

Marinette fumbles in her bag for her phone until Tikki is kind enough to hand it to her. She gives it to Chat without dropping it (a miracle) and he gives it back with a new contact: Alley Cat (cat emoji).

She giggles.

He thinks something good came from this akuma after all.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette.exe has stopped working...

Marinette spends two hours laying in bed after the akuma attack staring at her phone screen. Of course Chat would use cat emojis.

“Just text him!”

“I can’t!” Marinette drops her phone next to her on the bed and smothers her face with a pillow. She stays like that till she hears a swoosh noise from her phone. She shoots up, grabbing the phone and reading the message with wide eyes. Hi, it’s Marinette. Tikki almost feels bad from the amount of betrayal on Mari’s face.

The reply comes almost immediately.

Marinette smothers her face again. “I can’t read it,” she says, voice muffled.

“I can!” Tikki clicks open the message and reads from the black text. “Hey! How are you? Did you get home safe?”

Tom and Sabine flinch downstairs at the sound of their daughter’s muffled screaming. “Not again,” they groan.

After a few minutes of screaming Marinette is finally able to settle down and text back. Things become easy after that and they text comfortably until Marinette falls asleep.

Adrien stares at his phone, the bright screen making his eyes burn in the dark. His last message, “you look beautiful with your hair down,” in response to the pajama selfie she sent, stands out glaringly. He sent it half an hour ago and still no reply. It’s most likely she fell asleep but he’s afraid that he overstepped his bounds.

When Marinette checks her phone in the morning, her cheeks explode with a blush the same vivid red as Tikki and she’s on cloud nine all morning.

Alya questions her the moment she walks into the classroom, surprisingly on-time.

“You did it, didn’t you? You asked for his number.”

Marinette blushes but nods, answering truthfully. “We texted all night.”

Alya congratulates her friend but flinches when Adrien walks in with Nino. She really wants Adrien and Marinette to be together -they’d be so perfect!- but if Marinette likes someone else there is only so much Alya can do, especially now that Marinette has the person’s phone number. The matter is out of her hands.

“Good morning.”  
“Mornin’ dudes.”

They all exchange greetings and settle into their seats.

Adrien turns to face Mari, having noticed the particular brightness in her face. He smiles. “You look happy. Did something good happen?”

Marinette’s smile freezes as she feels her heartbeat speed up. She beats on her chest with a fist, trying to calm it down.

“Are you okay?”

Marinette sputters some sad excuse of a reassurement as she tries to calm her raging heart.

\-----------------------

Adrien is worried. All he did was speak a few words to her in the morning and now Marinette is avoiding him like the plague.

It wasn’t obvious at first, when Marinette basically ignored his existence during the first break between classes he didn’t think much of it because she seemed to be on one of her rants with Alya. He wasn’t too concerned when she continued that act throughout the morning. Worry sets in when she agrees to get lunch with Alya and Nino then comes up with a flimsy excuse to get out of it when Adrien says he has a rare free lunch and can join.

He sighs as he watches her run away.

“Dude, what did you do?” Nino asks, staring wide-eyed at his best friend. “She’s acting like you ruined her favorite oven mitts and nearly set the bakery on fire.”

Alya and Adrien stare at him for a moment before simultaneously asking “What?”

Nino’s face flushes and he pulls his hat further down to hide the blush. “Last year my mom convinced her mom to convince her to teach me how to bake. I’m not allowed past the counter anymore.”

The snort Alya releases is loud enough to stop all activity in the classroom. The ripples of laughter make Adrien smile.

“Anyway,” Nino cuts in, desperately hoping he can distract the love of his life from his extreme culinary blunder. “What did you do, Adrien?”

“I don’t know.” Adrien doesn’t know why Marinette is avoiding him. He doesn’t remember doing anything that could have offended her. She seemed fine the other day during the photoshoot and at the roller arcade.

“I have an idea.”

The boys turn to Alya, waiting for her to continue. When she sets her hand on Adrien’s shoulder he knows it’s bad.

“Marinette has a crush.”

Adrien’s throat constricts. What is air? He hopes it’s something he doesn’t need because he isn’t getting any of it.

“She won’t tell me who the guy is, but I know she got his number last night.”

Adrien makes an excuse as flimsy as Marinette’s to leave. Nobody stops him, and for that he’s grateful.

\-----------------------

Black cats really are unlucky, Marinette thinks not for the first time while she eats lunch. Her crush on that stupid cat makes her life infinitely more complicated. If her crush was on a (comparatively) normal boy like Adrien she would be able to talk freely to Alya and her family about him. Instead she is fabricating lie after lie about who she’s talking to and how she met him and a million other things. Most of the lies are to said to herself, that she’s good enough to date him and he’s not tremendously out of her league, but she also produces dozens of false-truths for the people she loves. It’s fraying the edges of her heart like an old crumpled ball of homework soaked by rain.

She thinks about when she and Adrien became friends, the black umbrella in her room waiting expectantly for the next storm. She contemplates returning it so that she doesn’t have to look at it and remember the moment long ago when he gave it to her and their fingers brushed. Before the arcade she’d never thought about it but now everything screams Adrien.

Marinette would smother her face and scream if she could but she’s in the bakery kitchen and doubts her parents would appreciate her screaming into her bowl of soup. Scratch that, she knows from experience that they would very much not appreciate it.

Stupid gorgeous blonde boys. She blames them for her problems.

Tom kicks her out of the bakery to go back to school and cleans the mess of torn-up napkins she unconsciously left in her wake.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angst.

Marinette returns to school after lunch but Adrien doesn’t. His friends assume it’s because he can’t face Marinette with a broken heart but it’s due to a last minute photoshoot Nathalie arranged the moment Adrien walked through the door. She didn’t know why his smile was so strained or why he barely looked up from his shoes, but she knew he didn’t want to go back to school. It took her five minutes to arrange an impromptu photoshoot for a brand new cologne.

Now it is the afternoon and while everyone else is learning about chemistry Adrien is walking into the ocean, his shirt billowing in the breeze. He turns, painfully slow, to meet the camera's gaze. Sad eyes turn away and he collapses to disappear into the ocean.

“Beautiful!” shouts the head cameraman, the one filming the commercial while the others take still photographs. “Once more, please! Adrien, you need to show more sadness. This story is about heartbreak.”

The name of the cologne is Waves, and it has a light, cool scent. The commercial is based on the story of The Little Mermaid. The mermaid princess failed to capture the heart of the prince so she returns to the ocean as bubbles. However, the prince later realizes that he was deceived and goes to the ocean to mourn her fate. It is truly a story about heartbreak and the cruel twists of fate. The prince lost the woman he loved before he even realized he loves her.

When Adrien performs the scene again, moments of Marinette flash in his mind. Marinette, when they became friends, taking his umbrella with an awed face. Marinette, bright-eyed, when she wins his father’s hat contest. Marinette, at the cafe photoshoot, staring uncomfortably into an empty cup. Feeling self-conscious. Feeling inadequate.

Marinette, today in class, holding her phone close to her chest with a smile. In love. In love with someone else. Avoiding Adrien like a disease.

He turns to the camera with tears in his eyes and falls into the abyss.

“And we’re done! Thank you everybody for your hard work!”

Adrien doesn’t want to leave the comfort of the rocking waves. He wants to stay there longer to avoid the thoughts that will come when he resurfaces. He will think about how, before today, Marinette would have loved to be on-site for a commercial shoot. Once home he will begin his homework and wonder if she’s struggling with it because he knows she has trouble with chemistry.

A nervous shout of his name from Nathalie draws him out of the water to the shore. They both know this shoot was a mistake but neither say it. Adrien almost wishes he’d gone to school, but only almost. Memories of her face don’t hurt as much as the real thing does.

In the car, Nathalie hands him a pink bakery box. He wishes she would stop trying to make him feel better because it is backfiring, bigtime. He leaves the box in the car, untouched. She got all his favorites.

__________________________________________

Marinette is getting worried. Chat Noir hasn’t replied to her texts since morning, which could be fine. He may just be busy. But he could also be fighting an akuma alone. Or even worse, maybe he doesn’t like her anymore.

She shakes that thought out of her head. He never liked her that way in the first place;they’re just friends. She tries not to get ahead of herself, which she knows she does way too often. When she decided months ago that she would have three children, a cat, and a hamster with Chat Noir, that was before she really got to know him. Time passed and the delusions faded but the emotions stayed. She’s afraid the hope that he may one day love her is the biggest delusion of them all.

Every time her phone goes off, she rushes to it, hoping it’s him.

___________________________________________

Adrien leaves his phone in his bag all day and doesn’t see her messages. Plagg, who was assigned to wait in the bag during the photoshoot, did see the messages. It hurts to watch his kitten hurting. He deletes the messages. Tonight he lays on Adrien’s pillow while the kitten cries himself to sleep.


	7. chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> knock knock knock knock

Marinette is afraid that she ruined two beautiful things before they really had the chance to begin. Chat Noir hasn’t texted her in days and a lack of akumas came with a lack of opportunities to see her crush. I must have made him uncomfortable, she thought to herself, face shoved into her pillow. She knows that she’s also ruined her friendship with Adrien by avoiding him. Maybe Chat somehow found out about her budding crush for Adrien and decided he didn’t want to talk to a person so fickle.

She screams into her pillow at two in the morning, drowning out the knock on her roof.

Adrien knows this is a bad idea but he has to know. She’s seemed so down the past few days and it hurts to not know the reason. He could text her, it would be so much easier than rousing Plagg in the middle of the night for a surprise excursion, but he is drawn to her. No matter how stabbing the pain of seeing her is, her sadness hurts even more. He wants to be close to her, even if it couldn’t be as Adrien.

When she doesn’t answer, he knocks on the balcony hatch a second time, this time in a short tune so she knows it’s deliberate as opposed to the wind tipping a flower pot.

The noise startles Marinette, but before fear can take control Tikki assures her there is no danger. “Just open it,” the cheery red companion says. Marinette gasps when bright green eyes peer at her when she opens the hatch.

“Hi, Marinette,” he says as casually as he can, heart beating painfully fast. She’s wearing Chat-noir themed pajamas: black paw-print patterned pajama pants with a green tee shirt. Hopefully the darkness hides his blush. “Can I come in?”

Marinette blushed and stuttered but stepped aside to clear his path. Chat jumped in, nearly falling off her lofted bed, and followed her down to the main area of her room. She sat on her desk chair and motioned him to the chaise lounge.

“W-what’re you doing here?”

“I saw you earlier and you seemed sad so I was wondering if you were okay,” he says, the words well rehearsed. Plagg could recite the statement from memory due to the number of times Adrien practiced it during the day.

I can’t tell him the truth, she thinks to herself, but I don’t want to lie. She decides to bend the truth. “Things are weird between a friend and I right now. I know I have Alya and Nino but I feel like I can’t tell them everything so it’s been pretty lonely. It’s like there’s a part of me that only he gets.”

“Do you like him?” Adrien asks before he can stop the words. Stupid! he yells at himself. He doesn’t want know the answer but it’s too late now.

Blush dusts Marinette’s cheeks. It’s one thing to bend the truth for a vague question, but she can’t bring herself to lie when he asks he something so straightforward, no matter how much she’d prefer to not tell him. As his partner, she owes him honesty, even if he doesn’t know that’s the case.

“I don’t know. A few days ago my friend and I hung out like we’d done plenty of times before but something changed and I don’t know what to think anymore. I already have someone I like so I feel awful for even thinking that way about Adrien.”

Chat startles, nearly falling off the lounge. He catches himself halfway down, looking ridiculous with his body hanging off the chair.

“Are you okay?”

Marinette gets up to help but he is already back in his chair.

“Do you mean Adrien Agreste?”

Fidgeting hands and a quiet nod are her answer.

Chat barely hides a smile.

“We are -were- close friends, or at least I think we were.” Marinette can’t look Chat in the eyes but she can’t seem to shut her mouth either and the words pour out. “He always seems so lonely. He doesn’t have many friends, which I don’t understand because he’s a good, kind person, so I want to be there for him.”

Her words burn a hole in Chat’s heart. She thinks he’s a good, kind person, and that makes everything a little better. But her opening and closing statements cool the embers.

“You haven’t stopped being friends just because things are weird between you two, unless that’s what you want. And if you want to be there for m-him, why aren’t you?” He curses himself for his near slip-up. “He’s probably hurting too, if he’s really as lonely as you say.”

Marinette drops her head in her hands, groaning. “I know, and that makes me feel even worse about it! I don’t want to make him even lonelier but I don’t know what to do. I like someone else but recently whenever I see Adrien my chest hurts and I don’t know what to say.”

“Who is the other person you like?” Chat asks tentatively, anticipating heartbreak.

Neither of them can bare to look up.

“It doesn’t matter,” she mutters, voice small enough to draw Chat’s attention. He’s never heard her sound so insecure before. “He’s way out of my league so it’ll never happen.” After a pause, she adds, “Not that Adrien’s not out of my league. Either way I’m destined for heartbreak.”

Chat is dumbstruck. Marinette is one of the most confident people he’s ever met; he never imagined she would think of herself in such a way. She think he’s out of her league? It’s the complete opposite!

The dull sound of Chat’s boots moving across the room makes Marinette think she scared him away. Of course he’s going to leave, we barely know each other as Marinette and Chat Noir so I shouldn’t have unloaded so much on him, she chides herself. But then the footsteps get louder, as if he’s coming closer. Something falls over her and she nearly screams, but then she realizes it’s her blanket.

“I’m going to drop my transformation for a few minutes if that’s okay,” she hears through the fabric. She replies with a simple okay. “Plagg, claws in.” A faint gleam of green shows through the blanket but that’s all she sees.

“You got any cheese lady?”

Marinette yelps at the new voice.

“Plagg, don’t be rude,” Adrien reprimands. “There’s cheese in my bag.”

With Plagg taken care of, Adrien addresses the issue at hand. “I’m going to give you my hand, okay?”

“O-okay.”

A naked hand slides under the blanket, reaching for hers.

Internally, Marinette is freaking out. Chat Noir is in her room, in his civilian form, holding her hand. In this moment she could die happy, though she hopes that won’t be the case.

“I’ve heard that you can tell if someone’s lying by if their heart rate increases. I want you to know that I’m going to tell the truth.” It isn’t until he feels Marinette’s cool fingers press against his wrist that he continues. “There is nobody out of your league. You’re determined and beautiful and you can make anyone fall in love with you, sometimes without even trying. If you think someone’s out of your league, it’s because you underestimate yourself and overestimate them. In the end we’re all human.”

“Even you?” she jokes, knowing full well it’s true.

Chat chuckles. “Yes, princess, even me. In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a teenage boy under the leather and cat ears.”

“A very busy one, apparently.” She means it as a joke but the words feel like acid in her mouth, corroding her smile from the inside out.

“Well yeah,” Chat answers, surprised. “But why do you say that?”

Marinette answers equally confused. “You haven’t answered my texts in the past few days.”

“I never got them.” Adrien’s words slow as understanding sinks in. He cranes his head to glare at the feline god atop his satchel. At Plagg, he mouths, we’re talking about this later. Plagg turns away. He doesn’t regret what he did. “You can try texting me now and we’ll see if it’ll go through.”

“My phone is, um, not on me. I think it’s on my desk.”

Adrien looks past her at the desk. The device isn’t there.

“Nope, not there.”

“In my vanity?”

The loss of contact when he stands makes the both of them shiver, not that either can see the other’s reaction.

“Still nothing,” he answers after checking each drawer.

“Dresser?”

Adrien raises a brow in question though she can’t see. “Do you really want me looking through your dresser?”

Embarrassed, Marinette squeaks. “Of course not! I meant on it.”

It’s Adrien’s turn to be embarrassed. He looks over at the dresser and on top of it is Marinette’s phone. He retrieves the device and gives it to Marinette.

Moments later Adrien’s phone dings. The lock screen reads One New Message. The message, from Marinette, is a shadowy photo of her underneath the blanket, smiling awkwardly. He finds it endearing and saves it, though he doesn’t tell her that. “I got it.”

Then he notices the time.

“Plagg, claws out.”

Chat Noir folds the blanket backwards, exposing Marinette’s face. She instantly blushes at the sight of his cocky grin in such close proximity to her face. “Looks like I gotta go, purrincess. This knight has an early engagement and needs his beauty sleep.” Suddenly Chat realizes how close they are and pulls back, creating space between them.

Halfway up the ladder to her loft Chat stops to give his love some parting advice. “I don’t know about the other guy, but maybe you should give Adrien a chance. I heard somewhere that he’s a good, kind person.” He puts an extra teasing emphasis on his last words, echoing Marinette’s compliment from earlier.

The plush toy Marinette launches at Chat Noir hits him square on the leg, catching him off guard and sending him to the floor with a loud thump.

Marinette is frozen in shock, horrified. She hadn’t thought she’d hit him, especially that hard.

Footsteps coming up the stairs send Marinette into action. She pulls the blanket from her shoulders and drapes it over Chat, hoping she can get to the door before her parents do so she can hide their view.

Tom and Sabine pop their heads up the same time Marinette kneels beside the attic hatch leading into her room.

“Sorry about the noise, I fell out of my chair,” she lies, hoping a story of her clumsiness will placate them.

“You should be more careful, dear,” says Sabine. Her husband stifles a yawn behind her. “We’re going back to bed. Goodnight Marinette, we love you.”

“Goodnight maman, papa. I love you too.”

Once they’re back down the stairs, Marinette and Chat both breathe a sigh of relief. Her parents would be extremely upset if they found a boy in her room this late at night, even if he was a hero. Especially if he was a hero, even, because of the secret identity and everything.

“I really do need to go.” Chat is still underneath the blanket, only the toes of one boot sticking out from the sheath of pink.

Marinette gathers the blanket from on top of the hero and giggles when she sees him. He’s posed, laying sideways on the floor with one knee bent and propping up his head on a hand, the other arm bent up. It’s a classic ‘draw me like one of your french girls’ pose.

“Goodnight Chat.”

He pauses, wondering if he should push it. “I…” Chat almosts drop the subject but then Marinette tilts her head and her hair falls in her face and she tucks it back behind her ear and Adrien’s heart bangs in his chest and the words come out on their own. “I meant what I said about giving Adrien a chance. I hope you at least talk to him, because he probably doesn’t even know why things are weird between you two right now. He probably thinks he lost one of his only friends and that it’s his fault.”

Marinette reaches out a hand to help him up. He takes it and tries to ignore how small her hands are in comparison to his. How didn’t he notice that earlier?

“You’re right, Chat.”

Chat salutes her and bids his lovely princess goodnight.

Their interaction runs through Marinette’s mind for the rest of the night. She plays it through over and over again, picking it apart, asking Tikki advice and insight. Chat Noir complimented her and confirmed that he wasn’t ignoring her, which was amazing. But he also practically recommended Marinette date Adrien, unaware that he is the other person she cares for. Isn’t that a bad sign? That means he doesn’t like her, right?

“I don’t know, Marinette.” Tikki says, cutting Marinette’s woeful rant short. “It might mean he doesn’t like you. It might also mean he’d rather you be with Adrien, whom he knows is a good person, than the other person who you didn’t say anything about since the lack of information made him think the worst. You won’t know if you don’t ask him.”

Marinette snorts. “There’s no way I’m just going to go up to him and say ‘hey hot stuff, you told me to try dating Adrien but did you do that because you aren’t interested in me or because you didn’t realize the other person I like is you and you would rather I be with someone that you know is a good person than someone you know nothing about?’ That’s not happening.”

“Are you going to follow his advice?”

Sigh. “I don’t know. I’m definitely going to talk to Adrien, though. It’s not fair for me to ignore him without giving him a reason why.”

“Apology cookies always work on me!” Tikki chirps.

This makes Marinette smile. “That settles it. I’m going to school tomorrow with a bag of cookies and an apology.”

_________________________

“Plagg, did you delete my messages?!”

Plagg flies to the top of the rock wall, hiding from his charge’s wrath despite knowing the worst Adrien would do is deny him cheese. “You were hurting, kid. I don’t like seeing my kittens hurting.”

Adrien’s glare softens. Plagg seems like a mean old grump but he really cares. “Plagg, come back down. I’ll get you some cheese before I go to bed.”

The god zips down from his perch into the arms of his human. “I’m glad you’re doing better,” he mumbles.

“She said she might like Adrien, meaning I still have a chance. I’m hoping luck is on my side just this once.”

‘I’m the god of bad luck so don’t hold your hopes up,’ Plagg thinks, but for once he keeps his mouth shut and lets Adrien have some peace.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Marinette gets her shit together.

Marinette shoots out of bed at the crack of dawn screaming.

“Marinette, what’s wrong?”

Marinette shuts her mouth and stuffs her face in her pillow with a groan. “Tikki I can’t believe I told Chat I have two crushes! Who knows what he thinks of me now.”

Tikki floats over to Marinette’s face, pressing herself to the cheek. “Probably that you’re confused and in need of a friend.”

The two go back to sleep. An hour later Marinette wakes up again, late.

“Oh no, Tikki! I won’t have time to talk to talk to Adrien before class!”

Tikki brings Marinette a shirt while she shimmies on her pants. “Invite him over for lunch.”

“What if he has something scheduled already?” Marinette grabs her bag and heads for the door.

“Your shirt is inside out.” Tikki stows herself in Marinette’s bag while she fixes her shirt. “And it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

Class has already been in session for ten minutes when Marinette rushes in, panting and sweating. Today the teacher is either kind enough or tired enough to ignore the grand entrance and lets Marinette go to her seat in peace.

Alya keeps passing her notes but she ignores them, too wrapped up in her own thoughts. When should she ask Adrien about lunch? What if he’s busy? What if he flat out says no? The thought of it is almost scary enough to deter her.

When the break between classes begins, Marinette stands to talk to Adrien but Alya grabs her hand and pulls her down. She understands from the look on Alya’s face that she’s worried but Marinette needs to talk to Adrien before class lets out for lunch in a few hours and she only has a few chances.

“After,” Marinette promises with a soft smile, pulling her arm from Alya’s loosened grasp. She only has about a minute but it should be enough time. She approaches Adrien’s desk and nervously slams her hands on the table. It startles Adrien from his conversation with Nino and he cringes. When he notices it’s Marinette he smiles wide and devotes all his attention to her, Nino be damned.

“Hey Marinette”

Now that they’re face to face, Marinette’s anxiety skyrockets. What if he’s too busy to join her for lunch? Or worse, what if he just says no? Marinette tries to shake the thought away; from his smile it seems like he doesn’t hate her. I can do this, she thinks, mustering up as much confidence as she can.

“Do you want to come over for lunch?”

Adrien beams but the bell rings before he can give an answer and the teacher tells Marinette to return to her seat. Adrien turns, just for a moment, long enough for Marinette to see his thumbs up.

He’s relieved; Marinette took his advice to heart. Even if she decides not to pursue Adrien, at least he can have her as a friend again. The thought keeps him smiling throughout his morning classes. The prospect of her parent’s pastries makes it even better.

During the next break, Marinette braces herself for Alya’s questions, and they come in a flood. Why did you invite Adrien over? Are you done avoiding him? Do you need help with anything?

“I want to apologize for avoiding him and talk. I don’t know how it’ll go but I owe him some honesty.”

With a smirk, Alya asks in a low voice, “So you’ll tell him about your crush?”

Marinette shrieks and throws her hands over Alya’s mouth. Nobody had noticed Alya’s comment but they all notice Marinette’s freak-out. She moves her hands from Alya’s face with a blush.

Lunchtime comes and both Adrien and Marinette are nervous. Marinette takes her time packing but Adrien is packed and ready within seconds of the bell ringing because he is so anxious to leave. He sees that she’s still packing her bag and he takes the time to watch her. She shoves her sketchbook into her backpack roughly and he thinks he hears a squeaky noise but he shakes the thought away. Why would Marinette’s backpack squeak?

Words of honesty usually come easy to her but Marinette stalls to take the time to decide what to say to Adrien. Some honesties are harder to word than others and she doesn’t know how much to say. She likes, maybe even loves, Chat Noir, but she knows that could never work. It would be dangerous for them to date as Marinette and Chat because it could put her in danger. Dating as Chat and Ladybug would be useless because they only suited up for akuma fights so they would hardly get to see each other. And she doesn’t know his civilian identity, and does not want him to reveal it, so a civilian relationship is also out of reach. He isn’t really an option for him. But she would feel bad if she dated Adrien just because she can’t date Chat Noir, and she knows Adrien deserves better. There’s too much to think about and she should have figured things out better before she asked him to lunch because now she is out of time.

“Are you ready?”

His voice startles Marinette into dropping her pencil case squarely on Tikki’s head in her backpack. Tikki squeaks in pain and glares up at Marinette. She smiles apologetically down at her and mentally promises Tikki extra cookies.

Adrien thinks he hears the sound again, and for a moment he thinks he sees something red in Marinette’s bag, but he blinks and it is gone. He shakes it off again and Plagg wonders how oblivious this kid can be.

“Uh, yeah! Just a second.” Marinette finishes stuffing her things in her bag and waves goodbye at Alya. She ignores the wink Alya sends her way and walks out with Adrien.

They’re quiet until they leave the school, both building up the courage to speak.

“So, uh , why did you invite me to lunch?” Immediately Adrien realizes how rude this sounds and rushes to amend it. “Not that I’m not happy to spend lunch with you because I am! I’m just wondering because, well, you haven’t really been talking to me recently.”

Marinette sighs. Of course Adrien is curious, and she should just explain, but she still doesn’t have the words so instead she just asks if they can talk about it after they get to the bakery. And he, the perfect gentleman, says of course.

At their bakery, Tom and Sabine welcome their daughter’s guest with open arms and plenty of treats. They load up a tray of goodies for Marinette to take upstairs for lunch then return their attention to the store.

Marinette’s heartbeat speeds up for each stair she takes towards her room. She didn’t give herself enough time and now she has to say something but she has no idea what.

Once they’ve settled in at Marinette’s desk with their food Adrien asks his question again.

“I want to apologize,” Marinette starts, grasping at thoughts as they pass through her mind, merging stray words into sentences. “I’m sorry I avoided you. You didn't do anything wrong and I should have made that clear. I haven’t been a good friend.”

He knows he shouldn’t ask but he does anyway. “Why were you avoiding me, and why did you stop?”

“A friend gave me some advice last night that brought me to my sense. I wasn’t being fair, and even though I knew it, I needed a push to change my behavior..” 

She hopes he doesn’t notice that she didn’t answer his first question, but he does.

“But why did you avoid me?”

Tikki floats out of Marinette’s bag and lands in her lap under her desk, out of sight but close enough to provide Marinette with the calming touch she needs to get through this.

“I was confused about my feelings,” she explains, gaze focused on the macarons she’s crushing with the tight grip of her fingers. “About you. I still am.”

Telling the truth is a good sign, Adrien thinks, processing what she just said. Maybe it means she will take Chat’s advice to give Adrien a chance. At the very least it means that Adrien means enough to her for her to be honest with him. Either way, it’s a step forward.

Adrien wants to dig more, find out as much as he can in this moment.

“Why are you confused?”

There’s somebody I’ve liked for a while even though I know it’ll never happen. But I think I have a crush on you and I don't know what to do with it.” Marinette is young. She hasn’t yet realized that emotions are wild and affections can’t be controlled. Because of this, she feels guilty and gross and unworthy of the kindness Adrien shows when he rests his hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay to be confused. We all are sometimes. I’ll be here for you when you figure things out, as long as you want me here.” He smiles and her heart thumps in her chest.

Tikki pinches Marinette’s thigh, reminding her to reply.

“I’d like that.”

For the rest of the lunch period they eat in relative silence. Adrien tries to hold up a conversation but Marinette keeps getting lost in her thoughts. Adrien is understanding even though he wishes her focus were on him in the here and now.

To Adrien, lunch ends too soon. They load their dishes back onto the tray and Tikki slides back into Marinette’s bag, pointing to the window on her way in. Marinette looks out and sure enough it’s raining. She thinks about the umbrella in the corner and wonders whether or not she should use it. Adrien probably doesn’t remember giving it to her; maybe he’ll think it’s weird that she kept it.

Adrien stretches, his sleeve falling down his forearm and revealing a familiar bracelet. Maybe he wouldn’t think keeping the umbrella is weird after all.

“It’s raining out. Do you have an umbrella?”

“No, rain wasn’t in the weather forecast.”

Marinette grabs the black umbrella from the corner and holds it up for her friend to see. “We can use mine, though it’s a little finicky. It closes on its own sometimes.”

At first Adrien thinks nothing of the umbrella; plenty of people have plain black umbrellas and there’s no guarantee it’s the one he gave her. Then she explains and the guarantee is given. Memories of a rainy afternoon, dark and grey but hopeful. He offered her his umbrella, and when it closed on her he feared she would be angry. But she laughed and Adrien knew he would love her forever after.

“It sounds like a good umbrella to me.”

Walking back to school, they both hold onto the umbrella handle, the top of her hand overlapping with the bottom of his, and when it closes on their heads, they laugh.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat is oblivious and he loves cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter because I realized just how long it's been since i last posted

Alya wants to question Marinette the moment she sees her under an umbrella with Adrien, but she holds back. Gives them a little bit longer. She can save her questions for after school.

Adrien and Marinette seem back to normal, if not better. Adrien is softer with her, brushing his arm against hers as she passes, putting a hand on her shoulder when they speak. Marinette is more stiff, her softness making way for stutters and jerky movements.

The new behaviors persist, and the softer Adrien gets the stiffer Marinette becomes. As days pass Adrien wonders if he did something else wrong or if this is how she acts when she likes someone.

His doubts fly out the window when Chat receives a text from Marinette thanking him for his advice because now she and Adrien are getting along again. He asks if she wants to meet later tonight to talk about it. She says she’ll be waiting on her balcony.

The smell of fresh macarons distracts Chat from his descent and he lands on Marinette’s balcony in a heap. His greeting of a toothy grin quells her worry and she helps him up.

“Something on your mind?”

“Just cookies.” She hands him a white polka-dotted pink macaron from the bag and he savors every bite. “Delicious.”

“Thanks, Chat. Papa thinks I should practice more often since I’m supposed to help bake this summer while maman’s visiting family.”

Adrien freezes, looks at the macaron in his hand. Now that he looks closely, it’s smaller than the ones he usually gets from the bakery and he’s never seen this pattern of macaron in the shop.

“If you always cook like this then you’ll do fantastic.”

Marinette blushes and tries to calm herself so she doesn’t stutter. He thinks she’s a good baker! He called her cookie delicious! She still beams at his praise.

“So things are going well with your friend? You said you’re getting along now.” Chat reclines on the lounger, trying to seem casual instead of unreasonably invested in her answer.

At the thought of Adrien, her heart skips a beat, and Marinette wonders how her heart can be so fickle. “Things are a little awkward but much better than they were. I get weird around him because I get nervous.”

Chat’s heart beats faster. He dares to let his hopes rise just a tiny bit higher. For his dishonesty, he can’t look her in the eyes when he speaks. He knows it’s not fair to her that he’s pulling her towards him without her knowing who he is, but the guilt is not strong enough to stop him.

“If that’s how you feel around him, maybe you should give him a chance. Your heart is there.”

Her heart is not where he thinks it is; Marinette’s heart is on the ground, bruised. She doesn’t want to hear these words from him. If it were Alya she’d pay it no mind, but this is Chat, the boy she might love, pushing her in another person’s direction.

In a small voice, she asks, “Do you really think I should do it?” She is tired.

He doesn’t notice.

“I mean, if you want to, why not. They’re your feelings and it’s your decision. What I say shouldn’t change that.”

But it does, and Marinette gives up.

She plasters on a fake smile and holds out a bag of treats. “I’ll think about it, Chat, but for now I should go to bed.”

Chat notices the tightness of her smile but doesn’t mention it, feeling like he’s pushed too far. He takes the cookies. “Thanks for the treats, Princess. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

The Parisian night is dark, speckled with lights masquerading as stars. Adrien wonders if he helped his case or hurt his friend, but tries not to think too hard about it because he won’t know unless he asks and he definitely won’t ask. The trip home feels longer than it is, and his body aches when he finally lays down.

Marinette’s body does not reflect the ache she feels in her heart, the figurative pain in her chest.

“Should I give up on Chat, Tikki?”

“What does your heart say?”

“My heart is screaming incoherently.”

“Then what does your brain say?”

“My brain says that Chat pushing me towards Adrien probably means he doesn’t like me.”

“Does Adrien like you?”

“I don’t know, maybe. He said he’ll be around when I figure out my feelings so that might mean yes.”

“And who do you like?”

Marinette groans into her pillow. “Both of them.”

“Given all that information, what do you think you should do?”

She falls asleep before she can think of an answer.


End file.
